Category: Uncategorized

The NYTs asks Why Are Middle-Aged Men Missing From the Labor Market? As many have noted the unemployment rate is < 4%, but this ignores that a lot of people have dropped out the labor market permanently. Just drive down the street or go to any coffee shop or store during the weekday, during working… Continue reading Why the labor force participation rate is falling: some explanations

Richard Hanania argues that brilliant people are toiling away in academia, being excluded or ignored by the ‘public sphere’: 5. Yglesias on what he learned founding Vox. I can relate to the point that talent is limited. CSPI does talent recruitment on a smaller scale, and there aren’t many Hananias, Lemoines, etc. One of my… Continue reading Academia is the public sphere

From Freddie’s blog again Yes, Supply and Demand Applies to Computer Science Degrees Again, because people get very sensitive about this topic, this is about headwinds; it’s about salaries and employment rate on the margins; it’s about a very strong employment market that’s still very strong, just more competitive. And there’s a natural cap on… Continue reading No oversupply of college/comp-sci degrees, yet

Freddie deBoer discusses religion again. This passage stood out: This disdain for arguments about the pagan roots of Christian religious practice is a prototypical example of the current turn in atheism: where once atheists competed to be the most disrespectful towards believers, now they compete to be the most respectful. Where once atheist online spaces… Continue reading The Pendulum Comes Back, Usually

Looks I am right yet again: Elon Musk Says Apple Has ‘Fully Resumed’ Advertising on Twitter Elon Musk says major advertisers are returning to Twitter after initial exodus Big advertisers including Amazon returning to Twitter, says report From Apple to Amazon, advertisers return on Twitter, Elon Musk says, ‘Thanks’ A little over a week ago… Continue reading Apple Returns to Twitter: Right Again

The internet is collectively furious that Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) has not been arrested after having evidently perpetrated one of the biggest frauds ever. Why is he still free? Elon Musk and Coinbase CEO Brian ‘brain’ Armstrong have called for the arrest of Mr. Fried, with the latter calling it ‘baffling’ that SBF is still not… Continue reading Why Sam Bankman-Fried Has Not Been Arrested Yet

“Bottom is in!” Signed by guy who helped you lose everything once. Maybe this time it’s different! https://t.co/MBBy0SOk7L — BowTiedBull – Read Pinned Tweet or NGMI (@BowTiedBull) November 12, 2022 Cuban and O’ Leary became wealthy selling worthless companies at the peak of the biggest asset bubble ever. There is something wrong with the ‘system’… Continue reading The stages of crypto grief

Banning Trump after Jan 6 is entirely compatible with the foundations of democracy, even necessary. By the Gödel-Popper rule, a democracy should never give its tools to those who want to thwart it. — Nassim Nicholas Taleb (@nntaleb) November 29, 2022 Except this is not what happened. After election night, the Trump campaign availed itself… Continue reading The daily view: Jan 6th, Trump, Musk vs. Twitter

This is an excellent video which explains why healthcare costs have gone up so much (starting at 12:00). I agree that the blame cannot be placed squarely on regulation. There are many factors at play: Record high corporate profits and personal income means more money to spend on healthcare. US per-capita personal income has surged… Continue reading Why Americans Spend So Much On Healthcare

From Scott’s blog Semaglutidonomics 140 million obese Americans x $15,000/year for obesity drugs = . . . uh oh, that can’t be right. I don’t think anything short of drastic medical intervention, such as Semaglutide, or a major disruption of society (e.g societal collapse or famine) can put a dent in the worldwide obesity/overweight epidemic.… Continue reading The obesity epidemic: genes and drugs